UFC lightweight Nate Diaz and former light heavyweight contender Chael Sonnen are as curious about UFC 183’s main event as anyone else.
Set to mark the returns of former middleweight champion Anderson Silva and welterweight contender Nick Diaz, the 185 pound bout poses more than a few intriguing questions.
Appearing this week on Sonnen’s podcast, Nate Diaz seems least of all worried about his older brother being undersized.
“Nick’s a good size,” said Diaz. “Anderson Silva fought Ryo Chonan, Jeremy Horn. All those guys weren’t the biggest guys. Nick’s a good size for 185. He’s not huge, but it should be a good fight. That’s a fighters’ fight.
“Oh course [Silva’s] probably going to hit hard and be bigger a little bit, but he’s not the ‘hold you down and use his weight’ type of guy. He’s more of a martial arts type of fighter. In the technical aspect the weight could have a slight advantage but I don’t think it’s going to be too much. I mean, it could be a slight advantage if you get hit and s**t, but I don’t think the weight thing is going to be some big, crazy ordeal.”
Diaz acknowledges that his brother Nick will likely lose some speed with the added size, but says the elder Diaz ‘isn’t stressed’ over it.
“Look at that Ryo Chonan [Silva] fought,” said Diaz. “That was a just little person. I met Ryo Chonan. I’m like, ‘You’re just a little …’ I think when he met and saw me [and said], ‘You fight at 155?’ I think he dropped a weight class right after he saw me. This little motherf***er’s fighting at 185 so I’ve seen [Silva] have some harder fights with smaller guys.
“Jeremy Horn is a good fighter, but he’s not the biggest guy, either. I trained with Jeremy Horn back in the day and I’ve seen Anderson Silva have a pretty rough fight with him.”
Calling size overrated, as far as striking goes, Sonnen took Diaz’ point just a bit further in regards to Silva.
“Your brother’s been in there with Georges St-Pierre,” said Sonnen. “I fought Anderson Silva before and I’ve worked out with Georges St-Pierre and I had a much harder time with St-Pierre. That was my experience. Styles come into it, but St-Pierre was far superior of an athlete and a fighter. I think your brother has been in harder fights. I guess that’s my point and I think that’s going to help him.”
Sonnen expanded on the idea, saying Silva isn’t nearly as good as he’s been made out to be.
“I don’t think [Nick Diaz] knows that,” said Sonnen. “I don’t think he’s going to realize that until a few minutes out there. Anderson Silva is very good, this is not meant to be a knock on Anderson Silva. He is not as good as they say he is. That’s also a true statement. When guys go out there and fight him they will come away with that opinion.”
Crediting Silva’s power of intimidation, Sonnen said he also believes he’s seen opponents ‘fake’ drop from strikes or be submitted by Silva purely out of fear.
“Everybody calls me before they fight Anderson Silva,” said Sonnen. “I tell them, ‘The guy’s a good fighter’ all that nice stuff, ‘He’s not near as good as they say he is.’ He’s not near as good as they will tell you that he is. If you go out there and waste half of the fight before you realize that, like what Demian Maia did, you’re not going to be able to beat him in a decision.”
Not completely willing to label Silva as the sport’s G.O.A.T, Sonnen believes the distinction needs to be held by an active fighter or else it cheapens the current product.
“I don’t mean to bash Anderson Silva,” said Sonnen. “I think the guy’s fantastic. All I’m saying is he’s not as good as they say he is. If you’re going to call a guy ‘The greatest of all time’ you need to be real careful with that dialogue.”
Nick Diaz faces Anderson Silva Jan. 31 in the main event at UFC 183 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Sit-down with Hunt. Ariel Helwani chats with Mark Hunt ahead of his interim title bout at UFC 180.
Rumble back. Alexander Gustafsson vs. Anthony Johnson headlines UFC on FOX 14 in Sweden.
Chat Wrap. Luke Thomas previews UFC 180, discusses the Wanderlei Silva Bellator fiasco, Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar talk and more in this week’s live chat.
‘I will beat Aldo.’ TJ Dillashaw says he wants to fight featherweight champion Jose Aldo. ‘I respect him, he’s an awesome fighter.’
Man down. Tim Kennedy will undergo knee surgery and says he has ‘no idea’ if he’ll ever fight again. ‘I’m not sure, but that has nothing to do with my knee.’
MEDIA STEW
UFC 180 embedded episode 2.
Alexander Gustafsson talks not fighting Jon Jones, no hard feeling with Daniel Cormier and his matchup with Anthony Johnson.
UFC Rankings Report.
Signature Moves with Fabricio Werdum.
Highlights of Tecia Torres vs. Bec Rawlings from TUF.
Wanderlei Silva getting some training in with Werdum.
This one seems much easier to play.
Long watches.
“Cheap Seats” with Jordan Breen, Greg Savage and Bellator MMA President Scott Coker.
TWEETS
Unaffected.
IT’s ON!!!!!! @alexthemauler vs @anthony_rumble Jan 24th LIVE ON FOX from the Tele 2 Arena in… http://t.co/gXW7TfRDBl
— Dana White (@danawhite) November 12, 2014
Sound good?
@danhendo going back to MW facing Mousasi in Sweden!! Its gonna be great fight!!! @ufc http://t.co/B9ZMXBvGvK http://t.co/NwtUwXztSG
— Tarec Saffiedine (@tarecfighter) November 13, 2014
No Bethe.
Yay! Thank u to all the fans for making this happen!! pic.twitter.com/nxfXBSLOmn
— Sara McMann (@Sara_McMann) November 13, 2014
Happy birthday.
“@ufc: Hey @ChrisWeidmanUFC It’s our birthday today! Can we throw a party at your place? http://t.co/QYk2sW8e1N” hah of course !
— Chris Weidman (@ChrisWeidmanUFC) November 13, 2014
Sounds about right.
Mr@danawhite is nice guy. Gave Cerrone gift. He never gave me bear coat gift. Give me my title shot @lorenzofertitta pic.twitter.com/y6wOHfKq3E
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) November 13, 2014
Damn.
Dam police escort crazy the police drove anywhere lol http://t.co/9QgkOTKKn0
— mark richard hunt (@markhunt1974) November 13, 2014
When the fight you thought you were gonna get falls through, you eat a cheeseburger and fr… http://t.co/2nIRZqhTvo pic.twitter.com/C677ffzh93
— Ryan Bader (@ryanbader) November 12, 2014
Me vs @alistairovereem http://t.co/vKcOWfvq6k pic.twitter.com/ikxmZjiecf
— Cub Swanson (@CubSwanson) November 13, 2014
Please be careful.
Taking flying lessons again. Now I just need someone to teach me how to jump out!! http://t.co/XZnSDU1Nsh pic.twitter.com/eLomIpjGPv
— Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) November 13, 2014
Imagine fighting that in a trench.
On the set of War Pigs #warpigs #WWII #goodtimes http://t.co/hUflM4VoPT
— Chuck Liddell (@ChuckLiddell) November 12, 2014
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Nov. 12 2014)
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Anthony Johnson at UFC on FOX 14
Dan Henderson vs. Gegard Mousasi at UFC on FOX 14
Frank Mir vs. Antonio Silva at UFC 184
Sara McMann vs. Miesha Tate at UFC 183
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via MMAtylander.
Can Competition Make Cheaters out of Any of US?
While serving in the 101st Airborne in the early-to-mid 70’s, my father competed in the boxing competitions made available to the servicemen. I’m not sure how the structure was setup, so I don’t know if he was on a Company team or a Division team, or what have you. I do, however, know that he was good enough to be offered a spot representing the U.S. Army at the Pan American games at some point in his career (for reasons that I can’t quite pull from him, he didn’t accept the offer….). Since he was obviously quite good at the sport at one time in his life, watching the “Sweet Science” remained one of his favorite pastimes for years. Due to this exposure at a young age, I also acquired a taste for boxing and would often accompany my father to a family friend’s house to watch the big matches and PPV’s.
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Check out the rest of the post here.
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